How to Win in Client Service

Stimulator: Your strength is making my situation feel important. You shine a spotlight on my issue, giving me a sense that it will be taken seriously.

• You are always reaching out to me, encouraging me to be just a little more involved with the goings-on at your company than I might otherwise be. Keep doing this. I, your client, instinctively feel that there is a wall of separation between us. You excel at breaking this wall down and inviting me into your world. You put me on your “team.”

• Your energy matches my energy. Rather than trying to placate me, you genuinely empathize. Just make sure it doesn’t turn into a pity party. Get into action as soon as you can.

• While I value the passion you bring to my problem, at times it will serve us both better if you display the opposite emotion from mine. If my voice gets louder, yours gets softer. If I talk faster, you talk slower. This can help balance what could be an overreaction on my part.

• You maintain your intensity throughout the process of solving my issue. You seem tireless. I love to have someone working so hard for me. Use your humor to diffuse the tension if it gets too thick.

• Use your energy to light a fire under your colleagues. If someone else needs to be engaged to help me, motivate him to move at the same speed as you. I love it when I feel that there is an entire team mobilized to help me; and you, of all people, are a fantastic mobilizer.

• In your effort to keep me happy, you may find yourself agreeing to measures that you cannot in fact take. It will be worse to have to renege on a commitment, so be realistic about your service recovery. Make as few promises as possible and keep them all.